How to beat Lace in Hollow Knight Silksong: Location, tips and tricks, and more

Hollow Knight Silksong features countless challenging bosses, the first of which is Lace. This agile boss will test players' skills fairly early on in-game, so they must watch her every move to emerge victorious. She can be a bit of a challenge thanks to her fast moves, especially for newcomers to the genre.

As such, this guide aims to break down how to deal with her effectively. Read on to learn everything about Lace in Hollow Knight Silksong and how to beat her.

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Where to find Lace in Hollow Knight Silksong

Prepare for this ordeal in Hollow Knight Silksong (Image via Team Cherry)

Lace will first be encountered in the Deep Docks area of the kingdom of Pharloom. Armed with a rapier-esque weapon, she is the first real skill test that players will encounter. As such, we first recommend activating the respawn Bench located nearby, though players must beat a gauntlet of enemies to unlock it.

This should reduce the backtracking players would face in light of several deaths against Lace. Furthermore, we recommend going in prepared with some Tools. As a Hunter, Hornet can utilize various tools to hunt down her foes. This includes Straight Pin projectiles or the Sting Shards traps.

The former is found in a cell area in The Marrows, while the latter can be purchased from the Forge Daughter blacksmith located in the Deep Docks. Straight Pins can be launched at a target from a distance while costing Shell Shards in exchange. Sting Shards are traps that can be placed around the arena.

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Lace moveset and strategy in Hollow Knight Silksong

Lace will test everything players have learnt up to this point in Hollow Knight Silksong (Image via Team Cherry)

At this point in the game, players will have access to the game-changing Swift Step sprint ability. It doesn't just allow Hornet to traverse the world at quick speeds and use that momentum to leap across platforms, but pressing the sprint button along with the forward/backward movement key causes her to do a flip in that direction.

That said, Lace is no slouch either and has the following tricks up her sleeve. Thankfully, most of these are well telegraphed, so players should keep an eye out for the cues and respond accordingly:

• Double Slash: Lace swings twice in the player's direction while being slightly displaced forward. This move also strikes in an arc, so be wary when jumping over her.
• Air Leap: She pulls her rapier back at a 45-degree angle behind her and then leaps into the air, staying mid-air for a second before swinging down in a diagonal direction towards the player.
• Counter & Parry: Lace holds up her rapier defensively in front of her. When struck by the player, she will counter with a flurry of strikes that lasts for two seconds and traps Hornet in it. When striking from above or from in front of her, she can also sometimes parry those strikes, indicated by a blade clashing sound, meaning Hornet's attack was ineffective.
• Lunge: She pulls back and points the rapier horizontally at the player before covering a decent distance on the arena platform, dealing damage to anything in her path.
• Area-of-effect dash and slam: The strongest move in Lace's arsenal. She powers up to initiate a white glow surrounded by a radius in the arena for a few seconds, following which she slices through the radius to inflict damage to anything within, and then slams down right beneath the glow.

The first and easiest move to deal with is Double Slash, as players can jump over her and strike Lace from behind once she is displaced in the other direction. Air Leap is mostly non-problematic since it is executed diagonally, though players will have to learn to react quickly, as Lace tends to dash downwards in the player's direction.

Lunge is another easy one to see coming and can be dashed over with Swift Step and the directional button pressed together. Counter exists to punish greedy players, and she can activate it at the end of many moves to strike back. This is indicated by a white blade glow and a pause after which the flurry occurs, giving players some time to dash or jump backwards away from the blade strikes.

Lastly, the AOE slam is something to watch out for, as it can be random at times. Avoid it by dashing out of the way, and players should especially be sure not to stand right beneath the sparkling glow, as that is where the boss performs a slam after slicing through the air in a radius.

Perservere enough, and Lace should go down eventually (Image via Team Cherry)

Being quick to respond to Lace's attacks is really the only advice players need to follow, so adapting a defensive playstyle to get in a hit or two during her wind-down animation is the way to go. Those using Straight pins should launch them from the other side of the arena, keeping a safe distance, as Lace can use Lunge, while Sting Shards can be placed around the platform to have the boss walk into them.

That said, we do not recommend using the Silkspear projectile ability here as it is not needed. This would waste precious Silk resource, which is best saved to heal when Lace's attacks wind down. The AOE part of Lace's AOE slam is a great opportunity that offers more than enough time to recover health as she is charging up her move.

Upon being dealt enough hits, Lace will often be staggered for a few seconds throughout the fight. If players want to make some risky moves, they can try hitting her when she is mid-air, as this can stun her as well, allowing players to land some free hits. To be on the safe side, rely on the Straight Pin or Sting Shard tools to deal chip damage and eventually defeat her.

Check out more articles:

• How to heal in Hollow Knight Silksong
• Where to find Shard Pendant in Hollow Knight Silksong
• How many bosses are there in Hollow Knight Silksong?
• What happens if you die in Hollow Knight Silksong?
• How long does it take to beat Hollow Knight Silksong?

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Hollow Knight Silksong is on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2 platforms.